Paula White - Dare to Dream: Understand Gods Design for Your Life

Life is funny You cant make it up.

Momma

M y mothers words to me were a simple explanation for the variables, unpredictable situations, and unforeseen events that would arise in this thing we call life. Would I be prepared for them? How would I respond? What would they do to me? How would the landscape of my life look after an unexpected event? Was I alone to figure it all out?

Every year I encounter masses of people who have lost something extremely valuable to them, and in the process they have lost a part of themselves. The loss may be a relationship, a career, or a home filled with warm memories. Invariably, what is lost on the outside includes a loss of identity on the insidesometimes a loss so great the person is left wondering Who am I? What is my value? Many have never discovered the value of their authentic selves, who they really are, and therefore live life with false identities, with no real fulfillment or sense of purpose.

There are moments in our lives when we experience crises, distractions, violations, labels, victories, successes, and setbacks. You will probably agree that in this gift we call life, most of the decisive battles are fought from within. It is only when you confront yourself, remove the blinders, and deal with the real issues that have produced a counterfeit life that you can live the abundant life designed for you by a loving God.

Most people cheat themselves out of the rich rewards of this abundant, fulfilling, purposeful, and successful life by not asking the tough questions and by avoiding accountability. But sooner or later you must ask yourself, Who am I, really? Am I living a life that is in alignment with my authentic self? Am I going in the right direction, or am I traveling all the time and seemingly getting nowhere? Is this what I really want to do with my life, or am I reacting to whatever comes from day to day? How will my life be lived out, and what will be my legacy? Tough questions, yes, but worth asking in order to discover and receive the rewards of understanding and living Gods design for your life.

I live a transformed and empowered life because I have discovered my original design, fashioned by the Master Architect Himself. I have learned that living through periods of pain and times of triumph is vital to finding out who we really are. It has been stated that I am a wounded healerbold to proclaim to the world that God can and does heal all of our wounds. He causes the dark places of our soul to be healed so that not only can we function but we can soar.

As I began to work on this book, I sat down with my personal journals to review various periods of my life. I learned:

What you are willing to confront, God is willing to heal.

What you are willing to change, God is willing to grow.

What you are willing to leave behind, God is willing to transform.

God gives each of us highs and lows. We learn through them. We grow through them. And as we go through times of adversity and seasons of victory and emerge on the other side, if we trust in Him we discover more about who we are, who God is, and how God works.

My prayer is that this book will help you discover your uniqueness in God and locate the true person God created you to be and intends for you to become. No one can be you but you! I pray you will not only recover the truly valuable things that have been lost, but perhaps will also gain what has never been! I pray that you will discover the rare, original, magnificent, fabulous, beautiful person God designed you to be! You are one of a kind, irreplaceable, and valuable beyond measure. You truly are all that!